Wigan squad for Salford

[Big Steve]

Those people bagging Field at the moment - it's like saying Offiah wasn't any good because he was just quick

Field is getting alot of stick for his passing, but what did he do?

- the 3_1 overlap to Marshall was a shocker yes
- the pass to Bevan, Bevan should have caught it
- the intercept - who hasn't had a pass intercepted when close to the line.

I've seen plenty of good passes from him this season to know he can pass the ball.

Bodie Croft who had a storming game for Salford had a shocker of a pass with two men on his outside for a certain try......

Field has been pretty flawless under the high ball, safe in defence and can still run the ball out strongly when facing a set defence.

French not as safe as Field imo, but happy to have him in the team when he produces breaks like he did on Sunday.

[EagleEyePie]

I thought it was an entertaining game but the sort of game I'm sure the coaching staff won't want to dwell on too much.

Field is on fire right now. Obviously with good form comes the inevitable 'overrated' claim. 'He's only good because he's fast'. Rugby league isn't that easy. If it was we'd just be signing 100m sprinters every year and playing them at fullback. You need to be an intelligent player to be as effective as Field has been this year. Matty Ashton is quick too, he's effective at Wire, but he's not being touted as a potential man of steel. Field's passing can be hit and miss but I'm sure he'll be working on that and there's plenty of time for improvement. It's not like he's always throwing out terrible passes, he just has a tendency to be a little erratic on occasion. As for the intercept, what playmaker hasn't thrown an intercept? Some passes are high risk, high reward.

At the moment we've got a real threat from 1, 2 and 5 but it's very clear we're lacking a threat from centre. Thornley did a solid if unspectacular job which is fine. It's only his 3rd game back and the first that hasn't ended in injury. I thought Bibby was really strong in defence, made some smart reads to snuff out some good play from Salford. He just doesn't offer much in attack right now.

O'Neill had a decent game. He was at fault for the first try but kept his chin up and the pass to set up Ellis' try just highlighted his biggest strength. His vision for picking out passes like that is exceptional. It did look like he sent the ball to the wrong side of the field a few times but it's a learning curve and I thought it was a good performance overall. We dipped a little when Shorrocks came on at 9 though. In the first half when they were opening up holes in the middle of the field I thought Shorrocks would be the ideal man to bring on at 13. He's barely played over Easter so wouldn't be fatigued and he can run around throwing himself into tackles down the middle where our bigger players were getting exposed.

I thought Smithies, Ellis and Havard were very strong down the middle. Ellis in particular is really giving it his all and he gets through a lot of work. Initially I wasn't sure what we'd get from him as in the NRL he didn't seem to make many metres of have a big involvement but it looks like we've signed a player with the ability to play big minutes and make big metres. There's a lot of potential there for a player who is still a few years away from his prime.

Byrne wasn't as effective but that's not too concerning. It takes a while for younger forwards to really generate consistency but the important thing is Byrne is providing much more quality when he plays well. Partington seemed ineffective but we know that's often the case with him. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be making a full strength pack.

Mago is an interesting one. I suppose in terms of the players we have he's not too bad. At times he can make a big difference with a single offload. At his best he's difficult to bring down and can make a few more metres fighting to stay upright. On the other hand his minutes are poor, he looks lazy in defence and quick line speed pretty much renders him ineffective. Saints showed that on Good Friday when they restricted him to an average of 3 metres per carry.
When he signed I hoped he might be a signing a bit like Satae at Hull. He was on the fringes of a good Rabbitohs pack last year so I expected him to have reasonable fitness levels. The reality is he's much more Palea'aesina at the moment. He can make an impact - he can make offloads none of our other forwards can. If we're dominating he can stay on the field for a reasonable number of minutes. However, if we're struggling he's not as good. He'll lumber into contact and get wrapped up.
I think there's an outstanding player in there somewhere but we really need to get him fitter. Imagine if he ran the ball in with real conviction rather than strolling into contact. The rare occasions he's done that this year he's caused problems. For me Mago isn't a bad signing considering the personnel we have in the front row, but he's a long way from where he could potentially be.

Smith and Cust had decent games too which is promising. Yes, Smith was at fault for a try but I'm willing to accept that he's still a work in progress. With ball in hand he was a threat once again and the more that players get used to how he plays the more confident he'll become on that right edge.

Overall I thought that was probably one of the most exciting games of the season so far and one I hope to forget pretty quickly too.

[jobo]

I thought that was a great game to watch, Let’s face it, we aren’t going to win anything this year, but we can be entertained along the way. There are lots of questions around what our best team short and long term might look like, and I thought we got some interesting clues today. For mine:
1) Field’s passing was alarmingly erratic, which made me really question whether he should be moved to 6 after all: especially as he is so fantastic at 1. I might pull my neck in on the whole Field to 6, French thing and stick with what we’ve got;
2) Thornley isn’t any good, but having a centre at centre does give us a sense of order compared with some of the combinations. I was disappointed not to see Halsall today ahead of Bibby. He may not be better than Bibby at the moment, but I would like to see how good he could get;
3) I think Smith has talent, and he showed some real glimpses today. He has a good running game. Tommy’s tragic injury could be the making of him;
4) it’s too early to conclude one way or another whether O’Neill is the answer, but happily he will a lot of time to show us over the next few weeks. Great pass for Ellis’ try. I suspect Cust is the best 9 we have, but he is doing a fine job at 6, so needs to stay there;
5) I just don’t see it with Partington, purely because he is so small he can’t make any impact; and
6) I know he has some critics but I really enjoy watching Mago play. He takes some stopping, and his offloads are so dangerous he drags even more defenders into tackles.

Apart from point 6 - most fans not wearing Cherry and white tinted glasses would agree with you . I’d say Mago is about bang average . I would say French is equally average and seriously overhyped by Wigan fans . Moving Field into the halves would be a disaster as he is only good in open play . Like French ; defence & passing are highly questionable. Lose Field and you would collapse. At the moment it’s working but it’s all very one trick pony .

At least we didn't throw the towel in and play our academy team. Anyone would think the smellys are a tad nervous about the semi final.

[Dan2266]

I've slagged him off plenty of times, but credit where its due, Harry Smith has upped his game considerably the last two games. Here's to hoping he continues to improve the way he is.

[widdenoldboy]

I've slagged him off plenty of times, but credit where its due, Harry Smith has upped his game considerably the last two games. Here's to hoping he continues to improve the way he is.

He is showing improvement which is what you want from a youngster. He is also starting to have the knack of doing something "extra" when needed, his intercept at the end was telling.

[widdenoldboy]

I thought it was an entertaining game but the sort of game I'm sure the coaching staff won't want to dwell on too much.

Field is on fire right now. Obviously with good form comes the inevitable 'overrated' claim. 'He's only good because he's fast'. Rugby league isn't that easy. If it was we'd just be signing 100m sprinters every year and playing them at fullback. You need to be an intelligent player to be as effective as Field has been this year. Matty Ashton is quick too, he's effective at Wire, but he's not being touted as a potential man of steel. Field's passing can be hit and miss but I'm sure he'll be working on that and there's plenty of time for improvement. It's not like he's always throwing out terrible passes, he just has a tendency to be a little erratic on occasion. As for the intercept, what playmaker hasn't thrown an intercept? Some passes are high risk, high reward.

At the moment we've got a real threat from 1, 2 and 5 but it's very clear we're lacking a threat from centre. Thornley did a solid if unspectacular job which is fine. It's only his 3rd game back and the first that hasn't ended in injury. I thought Bibby was really strong in defence, made some smart reads to snuff out some good play from Salford. He just doesn't offer much in attack right now.

O'Neill had a decent game. He was at fault for the first try but kept his chin up and the pass to set up Ellis' try just highlighted his biggest strength. His vision for picking out passes like that is exceptional. It did look like he sent the ball to the wrong side of the field a few times but it's a learning curve and I thought it was a good performance overall. We dipped a little when Shorrocks came on at 9 though. In the first half when they were opening up holes in the middle of the field I thought Shorrocks would be the ideal man to bring on at 13. He's barely played over Easter so wouldn't be fatigued and he can run around throwing himself into tackles down the middle where our bigger players were getting exposed.

I thought Smithies, Ellis and Havard were very strong down the middle. Ellis in particular is really giving it his all and he gets through a lot of work. Initially I wasn't sure what we'd get from him as in the NRL he didn't seem to make many metres of have a big involvement but it looks like we've signed a player with the ability to play big minutes and make big metres. There's a lot of potential there for a player who is still a few years away from his prime.

Byrne wasn't as effective but that's not too concerning. It takes a while for younger forwards to really generate consistency but the important thing is Byrne is providing much more quality when he plays well. Partington seemed ineffective but we know that's often the case with him. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be making a full strength pack.

Mago is an interesting one. I suppose in terms of the players we have he's not too bad. At times he can make a big difference with a single offload. At his best he's difficult to bring down and can make a few more metres fighting to stay upright. On the other hand his minutes are poor, he looks lazy in defence and quick line speed pretty much renders him ineffective. Saints showed that on Good Friday when they restricted him to an average of 3 metres per carry.
When he signed I hoped he might be a signing a bit like Satae at Hull. He was on the fringes of a good Rabbitohs pack last year so I expected him to have reasonable fitness levels. The reality is he's much more Palea'aesina at the moment. He can make an impact - he can make offloads none of our other forwards can. If we're dominating he can stay on the field for a reasonable number of minutes. However, if we're struggling he's not as good. He'll lumber into contact and get wrapped up.
I think there's an outstanding player in there somewhere but we really need to get him fitter. Imagine if he ran the ball in with real conviction rather than strolling into contact. The rare occasions he's done that this year he's caused problems. For me Mago isn't a bad signing considering the personnel we have in the front row, but he's a long way from where he could potentially be.

Smith and Cust had decent games too which is promising. Yes, Smith was at fault for a try but I'm willing to accept that he's still a work in progress. With ball in hand he was a threat once again and the more that players get used to how he plays the more confident he'll become on that right edge.

Overall I thought that was probably one of the most exciting games of the season so far and one I hope to forget pretty quickly too.

Great summary, agree 100%.

[Firestarter]

If we are going to play thornley and bibby in the centres then thornley needs to start at left centre

[nathan_rugby]

What you can see with Smith is that he has all of the attributes needed to be a good halfback in super league.

He just needs to cut out the errors and bad decision making and have some consistency to his game. He’s looked good the last few games.

[ian.birchall]

Watching Channel 4 when I got home it was clear as daylight that the reason we bombed two tries in the last 15 minutes were dreadful passes from Field, he needs to be put on a punishment detail just throwing out passes until he can do it to the point that he doesn't also throw a cut-out pass to the winger which drops short when we have a 4 on 1 overlap.I
Loved the 78th minute try but Peet can keep the try scoring fiver in his pocket a bit longer for me.

[nathan_rugby]

Watching Channel 4 when I got home it was clear as daylight that the reason we bombed two tries in the last 15 minutes were dreadful passes from Field, he needs to be put on a punishment detail just throwing out passes until he can do it to the point that he doesn't also throw a cut-out pass to the winger which drops short when we have a 4 on 1 overlap.I
Loved the 78th minute try but Peet can keep the try scoring fiver in his pocket a bit longer for me.

Both passes were not the best but were absolutely catchable and the wingers should have been better prepared.